FIT FOR LIFE - PART 2

3) Do intermittent fasting.

Intermittent fasting is not dieting or calorie restriction but rather an eating pattern whereby you fast for 20 hours and eat during a four hour window. During the window, you will need to consume as much as you can to fuel you for the next 20 hour fast. The idea behind this is to force your body to dip into your fat stores for energy when fasting. This improves insulin sensitivity especially when working out during a fasted state. This increases the uptake of glucose by your muscles to be used as energy making you less likely to store fat from the food you consume. It is recommended that you fast at least twice a week. Studies also show that fasting slows down the aging process.

4) Workout smartly.

Before deciding what workouts you do, define your goals. Do you want to be stronger? Do you want to build muscle? Do you want to run faster? Are you training for a specific sport? To get the best results out of your workouts, these will need to be programmed depending on your goals.Your workouts will also depend on your level of fitness. A beginner’s workouts will definitely be different from that of an elite athlete.

Learn how you can be efficient in achieving your goals. For example, if you want to build endurance, build strength first. If you want to train for a 21km run, do faster 5km runs. Building anaerobic capacity has a greater impact in improving aerobic capacity compared to the other way around.Lastly, have a plan. Doing random workouts for the sake of just doing them will take you longer in reaching your goals. Know your strengths and weaknesses and plan to do more of exercises that focus on your weaknesses. Constantly test and retest by performing a workout at least once a month, that way you are able to evaluate if you’re on the right path to achieving your goal.

5) Don’t neglect recovery.

More isn’t always better. This is true when it come to exercise. Recovery plays an important part in fitness. Gains from exercise are realized during recovery. This is when your body adapts to the workload you’ve put it through by growing muscle.On the top of the list is having a full night’s rest – at least 8 hours of sleep. You also need to set aside at least a day of rest in a week to give your muscles more time to recover.While it’s important to push yourself during exercise, remember that what that does is really just to allow our bodies to adapt to the workload so we grow stronger. That happens when we allow our muscles to recover during sleep and rest.

To be continued...

By Shaun Ochia

Full class schedules and other information can be found here, and on our MindBody Connect App, available for iPhone and Android smartphones.